


Little Drummer Boy

by things_that_matter



Series: CMBYN: Life with Ollie [12]
Category: Call Me By Your Name (2017), Call Me By Your Name - All Media Types, Call Me by Your Name - André Aciman
Genre: Discipline, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Family Feels, Family Fluff, M/M, Punishment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:02:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28876893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/things_that_matter/pseuds/things_that_matter
Summary: Elio continues to struggle in his efforts to teach Ollie to play the piano.
Relationships: Oliver/Elio Perlman
Series: CMBYN: Life with Ollie [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2094873
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15





	Little Drummer Boy

Elio sat on the bench, dancing his fingers up and down the keys. He had been playing the piano as long as he could remember. He considered it an essential part of himself. He wanted nothing more than to share his gift with his little brother, but so far he'd been met with resistance again and again. He had given Ollie a few lessons, and each one had proceeded in precisely the same manner: Begging from him, whining from Ollie. Cajoling from him, grousing from Ollie. Threats from him, tantrums from Ollie. Threats from Oliver, reluctant participation from Ollie. But then, once the lesson began, it would go smoothly. Ollie even seemed to have inherited a bit of Elio's musical gift. The boy especially enjoyed finding the mathematics embedded within music. Most importantly, Ollie was actually progressing, which pleased his older brother immensely. Still, each and every time Elio went to collect Ollie for a lesson, the same dramatic pattern ensued. 

Oliver, for his part, had grown tired of being the heavy-handed one to go in and force the unwilling participant to come out for the lesson. 

"Elio, maybe Ollie just isn't old enough yet," Oliver tried. 

Elio scoffed. "I was playing when I was three. He's seven!" 

Oliver sighed, but didn't pursue the conversation further at the time. 

Finally, the day came when Oliver could not convince Ollie to come for the lesson. No matter what he said, nor how much authority he put behind his words, Ollie staunchly refused. In the end, Oliver took away Ollie's TV night because he wouldn't obey him, and everyone was quite unhappy that entire weekend. 

Oliver decided to have another talk with Elio. "I know that you really want Ollie to learn the piano, but this just isn't working right now. He's digging his heels in with me, and sometimes you have to pick your battles," Oliver tried to explain. 

Elio's eyes narrowed, he crossed his arms across his body. At this moment, he reminded Oliver of a larger version of Ollie. "If it was something that _you_ wanted him to do, you wouldn't give up so easily," Elio grumbled. 

"I wouldn't pressure him to do something so... inconsequential," Oliver replied. He regretted the sentence before he even finished it, but it flowed out of his mouth anyway. Elio's face registered both surprise and hurt as he turned and walked out of the room without another word. 

That night as Elio and Oliver laid in bed, there was an uncomfortable silence between them. Oliver couldn't remember the last time they'd gone to bed angry or upset with one another. He glanced over at Elio, who was pretending to be asleep. His mind raced with the many different things he could say, but all of them seemed to fall short. He was concerned that he would only make Elio more upset. Finally, Elio scooted to the very edge of the mattress, as far as he could get from Oliver. Frustrated with himself, Oliver rolled away from Elio then, too, and somehow they each finally fell into restless, unhappy sleep. 

The following morning, Ollie was his normal, happy self as they got him ready for school and onto the bus without saying a word to one another. Finally, after the bus pulled away, Oliver finally walked over to where Elio stood by the window, watching the bus disappear around the corner. Standing behind Elio, he wrapped his arms around him and was relieved when Elio didn't pull away from him. Eventually, he even felt Elio relax into him. Oliver brushed his lips softly over Elio's neck and shoulder. "I'm sorry," Oliver whispered. 

Elio turned to face him then, and Oliver could still see the hurt still on his face. He embraced Elio, holding him for a long time until he finally felt Elio's grasp on him tighten as well. 

"Do you forgive me?" Oliver asked. 

Elio nodded, and Oliver kissed him. "I love you," they both said together. 

They each headed out into the world shortly after that to live their respective lives. Oliver would be teaching at the university all day, Elio would be taking graduate classes at another university, and would teach piano lessons after his classes. They were each relieved to have come together again, but yet they both felt apprehension, because the situation wasn't resolved. Elio still wanted Ollie to learn to play the piano, and Oliver was still tired of having to punish him to make him do so. 

The following evening when Elio and Oliver again were in bed, this time laying close to one another, Oliver decided to bring up the subject again, though he was hesitant to do so. He didn't want to say the wrong thing again, but the following day was Saturday, another lesson, and he wanted a plan in place ahead of time. 

"What are we going to do about tomorrow?" Oliver asked. 

"About what?" Elio said with a shrug. But Oliver could tell by the way he was sulking that Elio knew exactly what he was referring to. He decided to play along. 

"About the piano lesson. Have you thought about what we should do?" Oliver asked. 

Elio shrugged dramatically in answer. Oliver let the silence continue for an uncomfortable amount of time, hoping Elio would eventually offer more by way of an answer, but he didn't. Finally, as if to punctuate his unwillingness to answer, Elio turned onto his side, facing away from Oliver again. 

Oliver was actually surprised by his own patience, though. He wasn't particularly irritated with Elio even though he found his behavior somewhat childish. 

"Elio, what if we offer Ollie the opportunity to learn some other instrument instead?" Oliver suggested. 

Elio turned back over toward him. His face showed apprehension, but he was at least willing to listen.

Oliver continued, "I think he is intimidated by the piano. He wants you to be proud of him, and he knows he can't catch up with you, not for many years. You have to remember that he's your little brother. He wants to be just like you." 

"But..." Elio began, and there was an argumentative tone to his voice. 

Oliver interrupted him though, ignoring the tone, "If Ollie learned some other instrument, he would still be learning to read music, he would learn music theory, composition, and most of those skills would carry over to piano if he wanted to learn that later. Right?" 

Elio closed his eyes, but nodded. He didn't want to concede, but he knew this was true. 

"You've often told me that after you learned piano, all other instruments were somewhat easy to pick up as well," Oliver furthered his point. 

Elio opened his eyes. "Okay then, what instrument?" Elio asked. 

Oliver felt his blood pressure begin to fall to normal levels almost immediately. "Why don't we let him choose? We can take him to a music store and let him try different ones and see what he likes. If he has some control over the choice, he will be more invested in the process," Oliver continued. He didn't play an instrument himself, but he was a teacher and he understood the value in giving the students ownership of their learning. 

Elio stared at the ceiling, still and silent, for a long time. Oliver laid on his side, facing Elio, almost afraid to breathe, definitely afraid to touch Elio even though that's really what he wanted to do, seeing him silhouetted in the dark room, every line of his face and body was both familiar and loved by Oliver. 

Finally Elio whispered, "Okay." 

Oliver smiled and reached for Elio then. 

The next morning at breakfast, Oliver explained to Ollie what would happen. "Elio and I decided that you don't have to take piano lessons if you don't want to," he began. 

"YES!!" Ollie exclaimed, jumping from his chair and raising his spoon into the air, striking a pose of victory. Everyone ignored the oatmeal that flung from the spoon to who-knows-where. 

"Sit down," Oliver said, and Ollie did. "I wasn't finished." 

Ollie's face fell, but he remained hopeful. 

"We still think you should learn music. It is a skill that is linked to higher IQ, and better problem solving skills. There's no downside really to learning to play an instrument," Oliver continued. Elio looked up from his breakfast, impressed. He didn't realize Oliver knew this, nor did he expect Oliver to argue so convincingly in favor of learning music. 

"Yeah plus it's math," Ollie added agreeably. 

"Right," Oliver said. 

Before long, everyone was dressed and ready, loaded into the car, and driving toward the local music store. Oliver was proud of himself for finding a compromise. Elio was resigned to going along with the compromise without complaint, and Ollie was absolutely ecstatic about choosing his own instrument! Oliver wasn't sure if he was actually so enthusiastic about learning an instrument, or if he was just happy that he didn't have to learn the piano. 

As they pulled up to the store, Elio rolled his eyes and looked out the window as Oliver went over the rules about stores. Again. Elio thought that Oliver was a little too rigid about rules, but he'd learned that it was faster and easier to just stay quiet and listen. 

No wandering off. Stay within their sight. If you can't see us, we can't see you. Don't touch anything without asking. The list was exhaustive, but Ollie dutifully answered, "Okay!" after every single instruction. Soon enough, they were walking through the door. Elio was touched by how excited his little brother was. He first led him over to the woodwind instruments. He talked to him about each one, gave his opinions about the pros and cons, and he played a sample of each one on his phone so Ollie could hear what it sounded. Elio saw Ollie looking at the clarinet with great interest, so he took it down and let him hold it. Ollie raised it immediately to his mouth, but Oliver and Elio both said, "No Olllie!" at the same time. Oliver had forgotten to tell Ollie that they weren't going to put their mouths on everything. Fortunately, Ollie listened immediately and no harm was done. 

Ollie wasn't particularly interested in any of these instruments, so Elio hesitantly walked Ollie over toward the brass instruments. "Ollie, you are a little too young to play these. They require a lot of lung and mouth strength to play. I don't think you'll like them," Elio explained. This only piqued Ollie's interest. He wanted to hold every single brass instrument. But, thankfully, in the end, he rejected them all. Finally, he walked Ollie over to the stringed instruments. He thought the ukulele would be particularly well-suited to a young learner. Elio picked it up and played a little tune, hoping to capture Ollie's interest, but all he succeeded in doing was turning Ollie away from it. Ollie didn't want to learn something that Elio had already mastered. 

After two hours in the store, everyone was feeling glum. Oliver was hungry and felt himself growing increasingly impatient. Elio was disappointed. Ollie had some reason to reject every single instrument in the store. Ollie even rejected the harmonica with his whole heart. Who doesn't like a harmonica? Ollie was growing tired and cranky, and was beginning to misbehave a bit, too. Even the store owner was starting to give the small family subtle looks that made them feel they were wearing out their welcome. 

Finally, it was Oliver who said it was time to go. "Well, I don't know about you, but I need lunch. I think Ollie was exposed to a lot of different instruments today and now we can go home and think about it about it for a day or two, maybe watch some YouTube videos, and then come back when we've narrowed our choices." 

"Okay!" Ollie agreed happily. He was hoping for McDonald's! 

Elio just nodded gloomily and started walking toward the door, looking like a stray puppy on a rainy day. 

Oliver reached the door first and held it open for the other two to walk through. Elio began to proceed through the door, but he noticed Ollie was falling back, looking at something. His little brother's eyes were wide with awe. Elio couldn't see what Ollie was looking at it, but whatever it was, the boy was in love. 

"Oliver, wait," Elio said, his voice full of hope. 

"What?" Oliver replied, trying to be patient. 

"I think he found something," Elio said. 

Ollie turned and looked at them with the biggest smile on his face! When they started walking toward him, his smile grew even bigger. He pointed in the direction he was looking, and as Elio and Oliver got closer, Ollie began jumping up and down. "I want this one!!!" Ollie squealed excitedly. 

When Elio and Oliver finally saw what had captured the little boys interest, they stopped dead in their tracks, completely speechless. 

"Uh...." muttered Oliver. 

Then an almost evil smile crept across Elio's face. "It was your idea," he slowly said. 

Oliver raised three fingers to his forehead and rubbed a small circle in the familiar gesture that meant a headache was coming on. 

Soon the transaction was complete and they were in the car to go home. Ollie was bouncing his legs up and down joyfully in the backseat. Elio looked at Oliver, trying to stifle the laugh he felt brewing. "If you need some Excedrin for that headache, we better stop quickly . They are delivering the drum set at 1:00." 

Oliver looked at Elio with an unreadable expression on his face. "Yeah. We better pick up a few bottles. We're going to need them," he muttered.


End file.
